Movie Theater Etiquette

I don't go to the movies that often anymore...mainly because i refuse to watch a movie by myself. I've been lucky to see two movies over the last week and a half. And both times, i've witnessed (and been highly annoyed with) rude movie goers.
Last week, with a nearly empty theater, this woman sat right next to me. That was annoying enough...but she decided to add her commentary for her husband (he was forced to be there). And this lady was using her at-home-with-just-the-hubby-shouting-at-the-tv-voice. Ok, so she wasn't shouting, but she wasn't whispering either. And she was the one that has to laugh louder than any other person in the theater...and well, there wasn't really any funny parts...it was a serious film...

Today...with the weather being less than ideal for any true outdoor activities, another movie was in the works. DON'T TEXT DURING THE MOVIE!!! Seriously, folks, the bright crackberry or cell phone screen is quite annoying. You aren't doing a very good job of hiding the phone in your lap. If i weren't in such a good mood, i would've said something to you.

I really don't miss the movie theater...especially if people are going to be rude. Stupid Americans.

What really ticks you off at the theater?

Doin' the Duty.

Today, i did my civil duty and attended jury duty.
Like last time i made it to the bonus round. Luckily, i didn't make it to the lightning round. Either the lawyers or the judge didn't think that i was what they were looking for in a juror. I think my engineering background had a lot to do with it. I was never asked a question directly...and i'm sure if i would've i would've told them how ridiculous their line of questioning is.

First of all...lawyers and engineers think completely different! And that's a good thing. You see, with engineers we ask yes and no question and give yes and no answers. Rarely do we give "grey" answers...or a politician's answer. Because we deal with tangibles. Math is never wrong. Humans are...
Anyway, the lawyers kept asking ridiculous hypothetical nonsensical questions to see how you act, react, deliver verdict, etc in these hypothetical situations. Too many assumptions are made and too many variables are not named. The questions that were asked were not yes or no answer type questions...yet, that's what they wanted to hear, yes or no. Well, it depends...was not an acceptable answer. And from this line of questioning, 12 jurors are selected.

It is my belief that laws are written so that lawyers will have jobs. I'll focus on one example. I was on a jury panel for a murder case today. It is the State D.A.'s job to prove "beyond a reasonable doubt" that the accused did, in fact, commit murder or did knowingly commit an act to inflict bodily harm...or something like that. What the hell does "beyond a reasonable doubt" mean? The lawyers and judge tried to clarify...must prove "beyond a reasonable doubt" , not "beyond all doubt" or not "beyond a shadow of a doubt", but "beyond a reasonable doubt." Huh? Then the judge said that "we" aren't going to define "beyond a reasonable doubt" for you...that is up to you. Ok me thinks if there was a standard definition, then perhaps the interpretations could be kept to a minimum. At least that's what we try to do with our flight rules...although sometimes, there are a lot of grey areas that are left up to interpretation...

Ugh.

Well...bottom line is i was not selected as a juror...probably because of the thinking stated above. I'd be useless...and probably delay deliberations...or hang the jury...i think they made the right choice.

You're next...

The Friday That Sucked

Ok...it's not really that bad. Turns out that going back to work proved to be a little more difficult to do than originally thought. After about 3 or 4 hours at work today, i couldn't take it any more. I had to get out of there.

I went by Aaron Brothers on my way home to take advantage of their buy-one-get-one-for-a-cent-sale. I felt as though i spent over an hour in there...trying to decided what i needed. I have these ideas in my head, but i couldn't resolve the size that i needed. So, i just bought some simple frames for some of my certificates/awards at work. Luckily, the sale lasts another 3 weeks...so i should have plenty of time to find the frames i want (but there is a shortage on square frames). That is a topic all in itself...why are nearly all frames rectangular?? I digress...

I swung by Freebirds on my way home...Yummy. Once my tummy was full, i couldn't stay awake...nap-nap time.

This is one of those days where i would've rather been out doing something rather than holed up here in the house. But...that's where i spent my time...here in the house...watched a little TV...got into the studio to start working on "Ghost". Tomorrow will be more studio work. I need to work on the new cover, "Ghost" and "Dark Road"...so much to do...

Sunday will be a Finding Reason jam session (i think). Greg had some last minute issues crop up...but i'd still like to get together.

So, it wasn't all that bad...just a little lonely.

Sleeping Well?

I hope that someone is getting some sleep. I'm here at work, it's 3am...and i'm not doing much. We are supposed to be in a simulation with France and Russia, but the simulators are not cooperating this morning. So that leaves me with little to do...or should i say, little desire to do anything.

It's little things like this that aggravate me the most. Basically, as soon as i got home from work yesterday, i had to go to sleep (try to go to sleep), so that i'd be bright and cheery at midnight. So, i couldn't work on music...or do anything else. Just had to get some sleep to prepare for the next work related thing.

Hopefully, i'll get some things done tonight...my list keeps growing. It's time to mark some things off.

Ok, you can go back to dreamland now...

Hello, Time? Where are you...??

Where does time go? I disappeared into the studio and when i came out, i somehow found it to be hours later. Time just took off. disappeared. vanished. where did you go? I called for you, but you didn't answer. I fear you are gone...

Oh well...it was an okay studio session. I think i figured out the chorus to the cover song. Piece by piece, little by little. Another thing on the list is to dial in the right sounds for this song. There is a lot of tonal texture...so i'll need 3 or 4 different sounds. I'll have to save that for another day.

I just realized, i still need to wrap Christmas gifts...i'm horrible at that. Heck, i still need to do some Christmas shopping. Hmmm...wonder where i'm going to find the time for that?

Well, i'm turning in early tonight, i have a few early mornings ahead of me...i need to get some sleep. g'night...

Not a Fan...

I'm decidedly not a fan of jury duty. A wasted day is all it was. I made it to the bonus round, but then after telling us to come back 3 hours later, we were all eventually dismissed. They decided they didn't need a jury. Ugggh. so much productivity lost on account of the judicial system. Oh well...i did start reading (again) that book i never finished way back when.

Now, with my ever fluctuating schedule, i must now get some sleep, since i have a Sim starting at midnight. Oh, i hope i can make it through...

Todd is grumpy...

How Does It Know?

Seriously, how does it know? How does your car know when you are about to sell it? Inevitably, the car knows, and then makes your life that much more complicated. Right now the Cruiser is getting a new cooling fan installed (which involves a lot more than i thought a cooling fan replacement would need). This was the culprit behind my recent spouts of overheating. I figured it was better to spend some money now, instead of spending a lot of money later. I hate to invest money into something that wont' be around much longer.

Oh well, i'll just dip into my Infiniti down payment fund to pay for it all. I hate to do that, but it's better than paying for a whole new engine.

Ughh...the little annoyances in life...what's your 'favorite'?

Crappy Tools Make Crappy Results

Ok, i've had it. I've been trying to do some soldering on the guitar today. I've decided that it isn't necessarily my poor soldering skills, but rather the tool i'm using to do it with. Several years ago, i bought one of those Cold Heat (don't buy this product) soldering irons. It appealed to me because it was relatively small, battery operated and cooled down in seconds. I bought with the intent of doing my own guitar upgrades...fast forward a few years and i finally got around to using it. Let's just say that i hope i didn't damage any of the wires as i was trying to use the crappy thing.

Tomorrow, i go out and buy a proper soldering iron. Although, i'm not too fond of those things...*beware childhood flashback* Back in my pyromaniac days i would go in my dad's storage building and get out his soldering iron and melt tin wire into spectacular blobs of splashed metal. I was intrigued by the molten mass and how quickly it solidified... That was pretty fun...right up until i caught a molten blob of tin between my toes. I'm surprised i don't have a scar from that. I'm surprised that dripping molten metal between the toes isn't a practiced torture technique.

Well, enough of that. This morning i went into work to get some planning work done. I did quite a bit today and was satisfied with the results. I still have a lot of work to do, but some of the painful stuff is done. Next week, i'll get the rest of my team to help me out...then it's time to fly!

Will i be rockin' with my newly upgraded guitar? Tune in to find out... (i sure hope so...i'm excited to hear what she'll be able to do. Love-hate will really rock then...

Not Completely Sold

So, i'm not completely sold on the whole global warming idea. Who is to say what the temperature of our planet should be? With that being said, i do believe that we can start being less wasteful. I'm sitting here watching the Live Earth broadcast...hoping to catch a glimpse of the smashing pumpkins. I have yet to see the pumpkins, but i did get to see Roger Waters formerly of Pink Floyd. His voice has left him...but still neat to see the guy perform. Anyway...Live Earth is giving viewers great ways to waste less. I won't go into those details...you can check them out here: Live Earth.

However, i'm a bit annoyed at the way they organized some of this (thank you Al Gore). They go on an on about not wasting and cut back here and there, yet they have hundreds of tires painted different colors to make a map of the world...they are using this as a backdrop. There is also another backdrop made of painted plastic bottles. That seems wasteful to me. Now, i'm sure that all those recyclable materials will be recycled appropriately...but the question i have is: were those tires pulled out of ditches or did they come from the factory? The same with the water bottles? It just seems oxymoronic to me. Hey, is oxymoronic a real word? i like it!

Here's something else that bugs me...no one ever mentions smokers. Stop smoking and polluting my air. it's always about cars, light bulbs, one less sheet of toilet paper, etc. Imagine if all the millions of smokers stopped putting poison in the air...?? I'd prefer that to almost anything else right now.

Anyway...i'm not completely sold on global warming...but try to waste a little less. You'll save some money and feel good about it too...

Makes Me Angry

Celery. Yep, you read that right. Celery makes me angry. okay, well, not violent angry, but i have a strong dislike for celery. Seriously, folks, any food, nay, any substance that actually takes more energy to eat that what it produces for you is just not worth it. No nutritional value and you have to work to eat it...blah. Uggh...and the smell. And it tastes like it smells. So, why am i angry with celery? Cause manufacturers use it as filler food in soups, potato salads, and a host of other foods. It becomes extra work on my part to pick out or eat around the stuff. And while i'm bashing celery, let's add to list vegetables that todd hates: brussell sprouts (i have a story with this one), cauliflower, broccoli, spinach (i was deceived by Popeye as a kid), and probably a host of others. I suppose i'm a picky eater...i have issues.

Well, now that that is out of my system i can move on...

What foods don't you like?

I Hate Computers!

I'm still experiencing some computer woes. Earlier today, i had an issue with my desktop speakers. They just weren't producing any sound. I was able to a solution on the internet. Guess what? It was a stupid driver issue! Turns out you have to load a certain driver before you can load the actual sound drivers. Of course the manufacturer doesn't tell you this. It's so annoying! But, the desktop speakers now work, when i'm in office mode. And from the previous post, you know that the monitors work like a charm. So, sound is taken care of...I think the desktop issues have all been sorted out...i think. I still have to connect some other hard drives, but that shouldn't give me too many problems. *Fingers crossed*

Now, the other issues i'm battling is a laptop/wireless issue. Remember from the earlier post, i am posting from the studio. I normally do my posting in bed from the laptop. It's so convenient and handy to have a mobile computer with access to the internet. Well, when i was installing the newest norton software, the software load got hung up and ended up corrupting my wireless profile on the laptop. So, no more (mobile) access to the internet from the laptop. Since it is late(early), I'll troubleshoot this thing in the morning...er...later today. I think i know how to fix it, but it may require me to reset my wireless router (unless i can find all the information that's locked inside the router (i cannot remember my password for the router...therefore the only fix is to reset it)). It's been years since i last set up the wireless network...hopefully i can remember how to do it.

Right now, i have the laptop hooked up to the router via a LAN cable...that way i'm able to download things that i need to...i must look like a computer geek...two machines running at the same time, typing on both keyboards (not at the same time...that would be crazy).

So, needless to say, i'm sick and tired of computers right now. But hopefully i'll have everything sorted out this weekend. *Fingers crossed again* Then i can start throwing away the boxes and other components that i don't need...thus freeing up some space in my studio/house.

And so you don't feel left out, i'll be posting the specs to the studio machine, along with all the equipment in the studio. If i have time, i'll configure a comparable system from Dell or HP and show you the cost savings of building your own computer...although the time that i put into troubleshooting and hassles, may well be worth the extra money for a fully configured system...

Driver side or passenger side...and 5000

Do you know which side of the vehicle your gas filler is on? If not, stop reading and go to the garage or to the driveway and find out. Go ahead...I'll wait for you.

Ok, good, you knew.

Well, this morning on my way to work i decided to stop for gas. And even though i knew the gas station would be crowded, i was in no hurry. I'll get in line and just wait my turn. Well, with the morons out there on the road, i should've known better. So, as i was pulling in, i see a guy pulling away from the pump. So, i pull in behind him thinking i got lucky. He stops...gets out and says, "i need to turn around, i'm on the wrong side." Moron...

So, i back up and to move to another line. Nearly every pump had someone waiting in line and i nearly drove off when i saw someone backing up to move on. Now, i assumed this guy was tired of waiting and left. So, i pulled in to where he was previously waiting. I assumed wrong. Two minutes later, i see this guy waving at me. I paid no attention to him, for i didn't think he was really waving at me. A few seconds later the guy walks over to me and says that he was there first. I told him i watched him leave...i could only assume that he was leaving. He said he was on the wrong side of the pump. Moron!! He did step out of line. There are no cutsies at the gas station, dammit. Oh well, because i'm a patient man, and wasn't up for a confrontation on a monday morning, i decided to hop one pump over and wait my turn.

So, don't be a moron. Make sure you know what side your gas filler is on before you pull up to the pump. That'll just save us all a little time...and a lot of frustration.
Here's an automotive tip: Because car manufacturers know that morons buy their vehicles, they have tried to help the morons out by putting an indicator on or near the fuel gauge that tells you which side the gas filler is on. So, look for that arrow or indicator! This free tip brought to you by the letter 'F' and the numbers, 87, 91, and 93.

Ok, i feel better now. On to a brighter note. HorelicaNet has exceed 5000 visitors. The winning visitor was someone in the Sugar Land area and the time of the visit was 2:09pm. So, if that was you, drop me a line and be acknowledged. Ok, you can remain annonymous...but it'd be nice to know who you are.
So, we couldn't have reached 5000 without your support. Thanks to each and every one of my readers. I hope that you get some entertainment out of my posts...and sometimes i hope you learn something. I know there are some readers out there that i haven't met. Hopefully one day we'll meet? But until then, keep reading...and i'll keep writing.
thanks again...

BLAH...

A cold front pushes through today and brings rain. Gilruth sports (softball and football) cancelled. Sorry Erin. Sorry Moose. I thought football was an all-weather sport?

The Astros somehow get swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Yes, you read that right...the Pirates. Not a good start to the season. Perhaps they are getting their typical end-of-season-slump over with early this year?

Had to dig deeper into my pocket to pay the lawyer. I hope this thorn in my side is over with soon. i have things i want to do...

I'm losing sleep for some reason...

Ok, i guess i'm done whining now...

Construction sucks!!

As progress is made on the new NASA bypass, traffic is getting worse. I need to find a new way home. Luckily I have several different routes to choose from and i will pick a new route tomorrow and give it a test run. Construction brings out all the impatient assholes. I have a feeling there will be an increase in fender benders.

Well...the oddity with this post is that Josh suggested this was one of the topics that i was going to talk about yesterday. Well, before reading his suggestions, i had decided this was going to be my topic today on the way home today. Ironic... But i'm a fan of irony so...it's a good thing.

And while we're talking about Josh's suggestions, where have all the bloggers gone? Erin, Cory, and Mike & Molly...where are you?
The Green's have recently posted and it's a nice one...a couple pictures of my Godson!

Something is Very Wrong Here...

Exxon Mobil posts the largest EVER profit for any US company in a single year. Full story here. I meant to post this a few days ago when i first saw this...
It's pretty sick if you ask me. Gas prices do not need to be as high as they are...and i think this is proof. But the supply versus demand equation seems to hold out here...Whatever happened to that engine that runs on water, man?